Michael Che and Colin Jost consistently bring laughs during “Weekend Update,” but sometimes these jokes get a little more mean-spirited than I saw coming, and sometimes Che even ropes Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson into the “fun.” (Though she has her own reservations and rules.) The longest-running of these, aka the popular SNL “Joke Swap,” is basically a time-honored tradition at this point, but the two men have pulled many other pranks on each other, both on-air and in their personal lives. So, how did this prank war get started in the first place?
Well, there is a story behind “the war,” and someone finally asked Che about it. You’d have to go all the way back to Jost's 36th birthday in 2018 to get to the bottom of why Che and Jost are so brutal together. Let’s set the stage. Johansson set up a sweet dinner reservation with her husband. Then, Che sent a clown. Here’s what he said on Boardroom Talks:
I don’t know what the first prank was. There’s been so many. I know with Scarlett. They were having a very intimate birthday dinner. I sent a birthday clown to the dinner to do tricks for them. And I think that’s sort of when it went, like the war started.
Che posted a text Jost had sent him with a balloon creation on his head back in 2018, which is how we know this was Jost's 36th. (And also how we know this story is definitely a true one.)
However, what I hadn’t realized was that this was the moment that really ramped things up and spawned all the moments that came after. This includes Che intimidating Jost into thinking he needed to literally shave his head before stopping the bit. One time he tricked Jost into taking a brutal shot at Scarlett Johansson live on the air. One time outside of the office his birthday shoutout to Jost was straight trolling.
There was one time on SNL he even told the audience to stop laughing on “Weekend Update” but only when Jost was telling a joke. I mean balloon hat aside, some of these pranks are brutal.
Honestly, I know Jost also gets in some digs with Che during “Joke Swap,” but now that I’m really thinking about it, a lot of these pranks that tow the line are really coming from Che and not his “Update” partner. Some of them have clearly even gotten Jost into a little bit of trouble with his famous wife.
They are all very funny, of course, but Jost has admitted he’s at a “structural disadvantage” when it comes to the famous segment (and doubtless the prank war in general) during an episode of New Heights, and really only genuinely worried Che once when he made him take some shots at Kendrick Lamar, whom Che loves. There’s always time though, Colin, there's always time.
